(MENAFN) Neither Russia nor NATO has ever publicly criticized the 1997 Founding Act, but it does not operate in practice since the alliance is in violation of it, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday. Some speculated that NATO's main pact will be abolished during its leaders' meeting in Madrid.
The minister stated amid a press conference, “In a legal sense, the Founding Act continues to exist, we have not initiated the procedure for terminating this agreement.”
“The decisions that were taken [in Madrid] grossly violate the terms of the Founding Act, first of all the parts regarding NATO’s obligation not to host on a permanent basis any significant troops in the territories of the new – meaning Eastern European – member states,” Lavrov added.
He was responding to NATO's decision this week to increase its military presence on Russia's border.
The Russian minister's judgement of the document's feasibility corresponded with that of his German colleague, Annalena Baerbock, who is one of Russia's most strident detractors.
“The Russian government has made it clear that the NATO-Russia Founding Act is no longer worth anything to it. So we now have to acknowledge that this basic act was also unilaterally terminated by Russia, not by NATO,” Baerbock informed journalists after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in May.
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